Ferrari? Why do people do this?
Discussion
When it comes to replicas, I have some sympathy for the Cobra clones, many of which are actually better cars, both in engineering design and often build quality, than the original - that's not to take anything away from a genuine AC - I used to hanker after an Aceca, sadly out of my range now.
But it has always puzzled me why anyone would spend vast amounts of wonga and oodles of time to produce a vague look-alike. What is exactly in their minds?
Here's an example for sale not a million miles from me.
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2011...
But it has always puzzled me why anyone would spend vast amounts of wonga and oodles of time to produce a vague look-alike. What is exactly in their minds?
Here's an example for sale not a million miles from me.
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2011...
Edited by dave de roxby on Sunday 19th June 10:08
Never been my cup of tea however whereas most are cobras are - in terms of the body anyway - replicas, most kits of more contemporary exotica are in fact lookalikes: i.e. these have a major dimension or proportion changed, commonly as a constraint of the donor. I think we should start referring to them as such.
Have thought more than once about a 550 Spyder replica, and it may yet happen -
but I would argue that it's a dimensionally accurate replica of an original that is not only staggeringly rare, but equally expensive. I especially don't understand why anyone would buy a fake 355 (as per OP) when the real thing is relatively affordable - and might possibly start to appreciate. Quick scan on autotrader found a couple of Mondials in the low teens: would rather have that than fake 360 / 430...
Have thought more than once about a 550 Spyder replica, and it may yet happen -
but I would argue that it's a dimensionally accurate replica of an original that is not only staggeringly rare, but equally expensive. I especially don't understand why anyone would buy a fake 355 (as per OP) when the real thing is relatively affordable - and might possibly start to appreciate. Quick scan on autotrader found a couple of Mondials in the low teens: would rather have that than fake 360 / 430...
Speaking to a Ferrari dealer a while back he admitted to me that if you buy a Ferrari, garage it and never use it it is a fine investment, but start driving it and getting mileage on it and you will lose money.
Running cost and parts are ridiculous, I like the replicas, some are bad and shouldnt be built, most like the Extreme on a MR2 I feel look good and are a cheaper alternative for those that cant afford the real thing.
I myself have a Lamborghini Diablo Roadster Replica, a genunie one is on ebay at the moment and the owner says you need at least £5-6,000 a year to waste on its upkeep and repairs, sorry but I cant waste that sort of money with no return, my car looks identical, and yet its upkeep is less than probably £150 a year, for example my clutch will cost £100, genuine lambo clutch about £8K ! Not only did I have the enjoyment of building it, but now I have something to show for all the hours I have put in.
Running cost and parts are ridiculous, I like the replicas, some are bad and shouldnt be built, most like the Extreme on a MR2 I feel look good and are a cheaper alternative for those that cant afford the real thing.
I myself have a Lamborghini Diablo Roadster Replica, a genunie one is on ebay at the moment and the owner says you need at least £5-6,000 a year to waste on its upkeep and repairs, sorry but I cant waste that sort of money with no return, my car looks identical, and yet its upkeep is less than probably £150 a year, for example my clutch will cost £100, genuine lambo clutch about £8K ! Not only did I have the enjoyment of building it, but now I have something to show for all the hours I have put in.
Those are really good, great even, compared to this one of a McLaren F1.
Based on a Rover 200 IIRC and stretched to four seats. The guy who made the molds went bust trying to finish it. It owed him over 100K... ..to create a truly awfull parody of the real thing. It isn't even finished. The guy who bought the project came on this site as meluke 2702 on page 4. His attitude is astonishing.
Most of the picture links are dead but some remain at the bottom of page 11.
WARNING you will never think of McLaren again without this image popping up in mind.
Awesome F1 replica
Based on a Rover 200 IIRC and stretched to four seats. The guy who made the molds went bust trying to finish it. It owed him over 100K... ..to create a truly awfull parody of the real thing. It isn't even finished. The guy who bought the project came on this site as meluke 2702 on page 4. His attitude is astonishing.
Most of the picture links are dead but some remain at the bottom of page 11.
WARNING you will never think of McLaren again without this image popping up in mind.Awesome F1 replica
seansverige said:
Never been my cup of tea however whereas most are cobras are - in terms of the body anyway - replicas, most kits of more contemporary exotica are in fact lookalikes: i.e. these have a major dimension or proportion changed, commonly as a constraint of the donor. I think we should start referring to them as such.
Have thought more than once about a 550 Spyder replica, and it may yet happen -
but I would argue that it's a dimensionally accurate replica of an original that is not only staggeringly rare, but equally expensive. I especially don't understand why anyone would buy a fake 355 (as per OP) when the real thing is relatively affordable - and might possibly start to appreciate. Quick scan on autotrader found a couple of Mondials in the low teens: would rather have that than fake 360 / 430...
Im not even sure what thats supposed to be a replica of!!Have thought more than once about a 550 Spyder replica, and it may yet happen -
but I would argue that it's a dimensionally accurate replica of an original that is not only staggeringly rare, but equally expensive. I especially don't understand why anyone would buy a fake 355 (as per OP) when the real thing is relatively affordable - and might possibly start to appreciate. Quick scan on autotrader found a couple of Mondials in the low teens: would rather have that than fake 360 / 430...
seansverige said:
Never been my cup of tea however whereas most are cobras are - in terms of the body anyway - replicas, most kits of more contemporary exotica are in fact lookalikes: i.e. these have a major dimension or proportion changed, commonly as a constraint of the donor. I think we should start referring to them as such.
I've never thought of many Cobra kits as 'replicas'. The bodies of the ones I've seen over the years are rarely all that close to the real thing, which in itself is of variable dimensions. However, the insistence of the owners of these kits to ignore originality and, indeed, history by putting Chevrolet V8s in is the worst crime. What IS a 'Cobra' if it isn't an English Sportscar with a FORD engine?? There's no excuse for it but cost cutting.So non-original: Chassis (almost always), suspension (always), Engine and gearbox (almost always),
allied to a body which is roughly right......
That's a lookalike, not a replica.
To my mind not really anymore defensible than a Ferrari lookalike. At least, as outlined above, the 'Ferrari' people are doing it for more affordable running costs....
migwell2 said:
Speaking to a Ferrari dealer a while back he admitted to me that if you buy a Ferrari, garage it and never use it it is a fine investment, but start driving it and getting mileage on it and you will lose money.
Running cost and parts are ridiculous, I like the replicas, some are bad and shouldnt be built, most like the Extreme on a MR2 I feel look good and are a cheaper alternative for those that cant afford the real thing.
I myself have a Lamborghini Diablo Roadster Replica, a genunie one is on ebay at the moment and the owner says you need at least £5-6,000 a year to waste on its upkeep and repairs, sorry but I cant waste that sort of money with no return, my car looks identical, and yet its upkeep is less than probably £150 a year, for example my clutch will cost £100, genuine lambo clutch about £8K ! Not only did I have the enjoyment of building it, but now I have something to show for all the hours I have put in.
Why not spend that time building something real, like a normal kit car?Running cost and parts are ridiculous, I like the replicas, some are bad and shouldnt be built, most like the Extreme on a MR2 I feel look good and are a cheaper alternative for those that cant afford the real thing.
I myself have a Lamborghini Diablo Roadster Replica, a genunie one is on ebay at the moment and the owner says you need at least £5-6,000 a year to waste on its upkeep and repairs, sorry but I cant waste that sort of money with no return, my car looks identical, and yet its upkeep is less than probably £150 a year, for example my clutch will cost £100, genuine lambo clutch about £8K ! Not only did I have the enjoyment of building it, but now I have something to show for all the hours I have put in.
You have a fake. You either have to:
1) Pretend it's real - which makes you look an idiot to those who know, and live a lie
2) Tell people it's fake - which makes you look an idiot to everyone
Both are pretending to be something they are not in a relatively unconvincing way.The Cobra reps I've seen, could be a real thing - if you didn't know what the original looked exactly like. That is, the engineering and build is to a high standard, and often equivalent (if not the same) as the original.
The Ferrari reps are a shoddy knockoff kit, with god awful interiors with Ferrari badges stuck on.
The Ferrari reps are a shoddy knockoff kit, with god awful interiors with Ferrari badges stuck on.
Mattt said:
The Cobra reps I've seen, could be a real thing - if you didn't know what the original looked exactly like. That is, the engineering and build is to a high standard, and often equivalent (if not the same) as the original.
The Ferrari reps are a shoddy knockoff kit, with god awful interiors with Ferrari badges stuck on.
I've seen good and bad in both. Ultimately kits tend to be original designs or 'lookalikes'. The 'Ferrari' P4s are quite good and I've seen proper Ford engined 'Cobras' on realistic chassis, but to say that one lookalike is more worthy than another is crazy. Replicas are either replicas or they are not. Wrong engine MANUFACTURER is not a good starting point!! LOL!The Ferrari reps are a shoddy knockoff kit, with god awful interiors with Ferrari badges stuck on.
HereBeMonsters said:
migwell2 said:
Not only did I have the enjoyment of building it, but now I have something to show for all the hours I have put in.
Do you tell people it's a real one? I have no problem with it being a replica, I cant afford a real one but admire the cars and this is the nearest I will ever get to having something that looks that good.
Other kit cars dont appeal to me, not a cobra or seven admirer, or even ferrari for that matter but there all replica!
The few complete kitcars that are not replica, then I admire the hard work that has gone into these but as yet I have found nothing that appeals to me.
Edited by migwell2 on Sunday 19th June 20:15
Spitfire2 said:
Would be interested to see a pic of that if you've got one.
D
Pic here of my buildD
http://i601.photobucket.com/albums/tt95/migwell2/I...
migwell2 said:
which drivetrain do you use? How much power do you have?Because the looks are not bad, the question is if that can live up to the expectation... I am looking for a kit car at the moment, maybe Ultima GTR or maybe Cobra kit... but you know you have to have minimal 500hps to live up to the looks... otherwise better not waste your time and money...
You'd be disappointed with a genuine cobra then! The AC 289 mkIII (not the slabside body, the 427 "Shelby" shape) had 289 hipo lump-about 270bhp. The 427 had early 400's bhp and only the S/C had 485ish. The S/C was the only one to have the roll hoop and sidepipes so I suppose you could argue most cobra kits built are S/C reps and thus are mostly underpowered. Delete the sidepipes and hoop and your legitimate to go down to a Ford 289 (realistically a 302 - looks the same and much easier/cheaper to acquire).
My view of replicas is that long out of production rare classics are fair game (cobras, GT40s, Spyders etc.) but with the previso they look period. Cream leather, 18" rim superbling cobras leave me absolutely cold and are as bad as a 355 rep in many ways. I don't get reps of cars in current production.
The interesting thing about cobras is the default public view is that it's a replica-you don't need to tell anyone, they know! "nice replica m8" was a regular greeting in petrol stations - I actually feel sorry for anyone with a real one, they must get fed up saying "No actually it's a REAL one". I actually think there were a lot more cobras built back in the day than we know about - the amount of people who came up to me saying "Oh yes, my dad/uncle/grandad* used to race/have one of these* these in the 60's"
The Ferrari rep thing, well, I had a Noble P4 rep and I have to say I always felt uncomfortable about the Ferrari badges the builder had put on - I actually bought Noble badges to put on it (although I sold it before I put them on). It got complicated trying to explain it to interested "what is it" parties because you had to go through the whole P4 explanation and then the Noble "yes but before they made the M10/M12 they use to sell kits" thing as well
And here's my contribution to the "don'ts" of Ferrari emulation - the TR7 based F40. Mmmm.
My view of replicas is that long out of production rare classics are fair game (cobras, GT40s, Spyders etc.) but with the previso they look period. Cream leather, 18" rim superbling cobras leave me absolutely cold and are as bad as a 355 rep in many ways. I don't get reps of cars in current production.
The interesting thing about cobras is the default public view is that it's a replica-you don't need to tell anyone, they know! "nice replica m8" was a regular greeting in petrol stations - I actually feel sorry for anyone with a real one, they must get fed up saying "No actually it's a REAL one". I actually think there were a lot more cobras built back in the day than we know about - the amount of people who came up to me saying "Oh yes, my dad/uncle/grandad* used to race/have one of these* these in the 60's"
- delete as applicable.
The Ferrari rep thing, well, I had a Noble P4 rep and I have to say I always felt uncomfortable about the Ferrari badges the builder had put on - I actually bought Noble badges to put on it (although I sold it before I put them on). It got complicated trying to explain it to interested "what is it" parties because you had to go through the whole P4 explanation and then the Noble "yes but before they made the M10/M12 they use to sell kits" thing as well
And here's my contribution to the "don'ts" of Ferrari emulation - the TR7 based F40. Mmmm.
Edited by smash on Monday 20th June 10:26
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